


Gotta Keep Soldiering On

by theyoungestzerogmechanic



Series: a thousand teeth and yours among them verse [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Clarke Griffin, Bisexual Raven Reyes, Character Deaths, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, OT3, Protective Clarke Griffin, bc they're in my top five au's of all time list, zombie apocalypse AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-02-11 23:54:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2087775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theyoungestzerogmechanic/pseuds/theyoungestzerogmechanic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The girl shimmied herself onto the platform and then looked back at Clarke with wide eyes.</p><p>“Clarke, you gotta hurry.” She whispered, glancing behind Clarke at the hoard almost on her.</p><p>Stepping back a few steps, Clarke ran forwards and jumped, getting a grip on the railing and pulling herself up, nailing a zombie in the face with a combat boot as it tried to get a good grip on her leg and haul her back down into their frenzy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

A gunshot rang out and Clarke spun, muttering profanities under her breath to see Charlotte in the mouth of the alleyway, firearm clasped tightly in shaking hands as a walker ambled towards her.

“Shit!” Clarke exclaimed more loudly this time, rushing forwards and sweeping the girl behind her before she thrust her katana through its eye socket.

“Charlotte,” Clarke exclaimed, frowning at the seven year old, “I told you to stay with the others.” Clarke tugged her katana free and dragged Charlotte further into the safety of the alleyway.

“I wanted to stay with you though.” Charlotte wrapped her arms around Clarke’s middle and buried her face in her stomach.

“The others will be worried, Charlotte.” Clarke scolded her, tugging at the end of her braid, “They won’t know where you are, did you think about that?”

“No,” Charlotte replied in a small voice, “I’m sorry.”

Clarke hummed lowly at that, turning her eyes to the mouth of the alley as she heard the shuffling feet and hungry groans of a herd moments before they turned the corner.

“C’mon Charlotte, we need to go.” Clarke moved further into the alleyway, keeping a tight grip on Charlotte’s arm as she moved. “Here,” Clarke eyed the fire escape and figured it would have to do. “Grab onto the platform and pull yourself up.”

She hoisted Charlotte into her arms and lifted her until she could reach the flimsy metal that made up the fire escape of the apartment building they stood beside. The girl shimmied herself onto the platform and then looked back at Clarke with wide eyes.

“Clarke, you've have to hurry.” She whispered, glancing behind Clarke at the hoard almost on her.

Taking a few steps back, Clarke ran forwards and jumped. Getting a grip on the railing and hauled herself up, nailing a zombie in the face with a combat boot as it tried to get a good grip on her leg and haul her back down into their frenzy.

Eyeing the window in front of them Clarke sighed and figured it was better than nothing, “Stay close to me, Charlotte, okay?”

The girl nodded, and stood next to the window as Clarke climbed into the building and checked that the first room was clear.

“You’re good, Charlotte.” She called, reaching out a hand to help her through the window. “We need to clear the rest of the apartment though.” She drew her blade and stalked through the skeleton of a home, pushing open doors and making sure the place was devoid of any life; both alive and undead.

“All clear,” Clarke called, returning to Charlotte and sliding down the wall next to her, “We’ll hole up here until they clear out.”

“Okay. I really am sorry, Clarke.” She told the older girl mournfully, eyes trained on the ground in front of her.

“There’s nothing we can do about it now, Charlotte.” And then, “C’mon, let’s go see if we can find a real bed to sleep in for once.” 

Charlotte gave her a small smile and then followed her into the bedroom.

“It looks okay.” Charlotte said and Clarke nodded in agreement.

“Come here and help me flip this mattress.” Clarke beckoned her forwards with her chin, flipping the mattress over and digging through the cupboards for a duvet or some blankets.

Finding an old quilt, she dropped her backpack and katana next to the bed, gesturing for Charlotte to do the same, “We may as well get some sleep where we can.”

Charlotte clambered onto the bed next to Clarke, snuggling into her side and squeezing her eyes shut. Clarke stayed awake until she was sure the girl was fast asleep and she could no longer keep her eyes open.

~

Clarke woke to the sun across her face and the dull pounding in her head which came with getting too little sleep most nights. Reaching out a hand she frowned when she couldn’t feel Charlotte on the bed next to her.

Sitting up, she swung her still booted feet over the side of the bed and tugged her jacket on over her thermal, glancing down to find their bags still where she’d left them the day before.

“Charlotte?” she called softly, wary of being too loud. Noise attracted unwanted company in the form of both the dead and the living. Not hearing a reply she shouldered her backpack and katana, leaving Charlotte's where it was for the moment.

Clarke moved silently through the apartment and upon finding it empty she stepped into the corridor, peering down it and seeing no signs of movement.

“Clarke!” Charlotte’s voice wailed, reverberating through the building. As soon as she heard the noise Clarke bolted for the stairs and towards the source of the scream. She found the third floor deserted and the fourth was in the same state. When she burst onto the landing of the fifth she finally found Charlotte, her upper arm held in an iron grip by a girl who looked Clarke’s age, dark hair loose across tanned shoulders and dark eyes darting up to take in the new arrival as she began to pace angrily towards them.

“Hands off her,” Clarke snarled, hand moving back towards the handle of her blade. Charlotte stopped trying to twist out of the girls grip when she heard Clarke’s voice, her eyes darting up to check that it was really her.

The other girl eyed her warily, shifting her weight anxiously and glancing over her shoulder at the doorway behind her. Clarke narrowed her eyes and finally drew her katana and the girl flinching back at the harsh rasp the shining metal made as it came free.

“I said hands off,” Clarke repeated, her voice hard and unyielding. “I won’t be asking again.”

The girl slowly released her grip on Charlotte's arm and the child darted across the space separating her from Clarke, burying herself in the older girl’s side.

Clarke jerked her head up and around at the sound of a gun being cocked only to find herself facing off with an older male version of the girl, his face mapped out with hundreds of freckles.

“I suggest you put that down, Princess.” his tone matched her own and she knew he meant business from the easy yet purposeful set of his body. She bent to set her blade at her feet and moved to kick it towards him when she heard the click of a second gun being loaded.

She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid to have forgotten about the gun Charlotte had had on her yesterday in the alleyway.  
“Charlotte, where’d you get the gun?” she asked softly frowning down at the weapon, “Did you take it from Raven? That looks like hers.”

Charlotte nodded guiltily, the gun still pointed shakily at the brother, “You can’t shoot him, Charlotte. You know that.”

“He would shoot you!” she shrieked, tears leaving tracks down her cheeks, and the man made eye contact with her and placed his gun on the floor next to her katana.

“There, see.” Clarke soothed, stepping in front of the gun and praying that Charlotte didn’t accidentally squeeze the trigger. “Everything’s fine, Sweetheart. Now, can I have the gun please? I’ll keep it safe until I can give it back to Raven.”

Biting her lip, Charlotte nodded her head and handed the gun to Clarke who flicked the safety back on and tucked it into the back of her jeans. “Good girl.” She whispered, pulling her into a hug.

Glancing over her shoulder at the siblings she apologized, no longer sure which party was really at fault here. “I’m sorry; we didn’t mean to disturb you. We were just lying low until the walkers dispersed.”

“Its fine,” the girl shrugged, looking mildly guilty. “I grabbed her.”

The brother picked up his gun and holstered it, “I’m Bellamy and this is my sister Octavia.”

“Clarke and Charlotte, though you may have already figured that out.” She replied, sliding her katana back into its sheath.

“Nice weapon,” he smirked appreciatively at her and she returned the smile.

“What can I say, it gets the job done.”

“You two want to come in?” Octavia offered, still hovering by the door. “Just until you’re sure it’s safe out there and all.”

“Sure, that’d be fantastic.” Clarke said, really meaning it.

She reached down and gripped Charlottes hand before following them into an apartment. Clarke took in their surroundings as she trailed Bellamy and Octavia into a small but beautifully decorated living room.

“This is nice,” she commented appreciatively, taking a seat on a couch opposite Octavia, Charlotte falling onto it next to her.

“Thanks,” she smiled brightly, leaning forwards in her armchair. “So, what’s it like out there? In the city I mean.”

“Haven’t you been out there yourself?” Clarke frowned at her as she wrapped an arm securely around Charlotte’s shoulders, the girl curling up against her side.

“Not since it got bad,” she told her, “Bell goes out to scavenge for supplies, but he makes me stay here. He worries.”

“He’s right to worry,” Clarke agreed before taking a moment to think about the state of the city. “Since the outbreak the city’s gotten really bad, walkers everywhere. A lot of people left the city within the first few weeks, most of those who didn’t died out there on the streets.”

Octavia bit at her thumb nail as she processed the information. “What about you and Charlotte, how come you’re still alive?”

“We’re with a group; it’s good in the way of survival. There are more people to scavenge and most of them have areas of expertise which helps the group and gives us a higher quality of life. I was out scavenging; looking for supplies and a new place for us to stay and Charlotte snuck out and followed me. We were cornered by walkers in the back alleyway, so we climbed onto the fire escape and into the second floor.”

“Is she your sister, or…?”

“Octavia, maybe relax with your twenty questions?” Bellamy called from the next room. “You don’t have to answer her questions if you don’t want to, Clarke.”

“Its fine,” she called, turning back to Octavia, “Before the phones went down Raven and I had agreed to meet at this coffee shop we liked to hang out in and Charlotte was trapped in the Laundromat across the street from my place. I got her out but I didn’t feel right about abandoning her so I brought her with me and she stayed with us.”

Clarke stood and strode to the window, peering into the streets below. 

“The streets seem clear or as clear as they’re going to get at least, so we should start heading back. The groups comprised of worriers and over reactors.” 

She turned and gave Octavia a half smile, “Good luck. Maybe I’ll see you around Bellamy.” She called and she could hear him chuckling softly.

“Maybe you will, Princess.”

~

Clarke eased the door open and stepped into the familiar darkness of the garage. Charlotte slipped in after her, and she shut the door firmly behind them, moving further into the place.

“Guys?”

“Clarke?” Monty strode eagerly through the doorway, bounding towards her. “Thank goodness. Is Charlotte with you?”

Clarke nodded her affirmation and then jerked her head towards the girl in question, “Where are the others, Monty? Jas and Raven and everyone?”

“They went out looking for her, I mean we figured she’d followed you, but you know how it is.” He shrugged and slung an arm around her shoulder, “Glad you got back okay though, we expected you here a little while ago.”

“We got cornered and had to wait it out.” She told him, leaning into the hug and letting him guide her into the main room.

“Clarke!” Harper exclaimed, Munroe beaming at her from the girls side. “You’re back!”

“Yeah I am,” Clarke grinned back at them and moved to Munroe’s side, “how’s your arm looking?”

Munroe tugged her sleeve up and peeled back the bandage, giving Clarke a look at her own handiwork. “Not too bad all things considered, better than it was before you stitched it up definitely.”

Clarke rummaged through her backpack and handed Harper the half full bottle of antibiotics she had found in the bathroom of the apartment, “One of these in the morning and one at night and hopefully it will take care of that infection. Where’s Raven?” she asked Monty.

He shrugged before thumbing the walkie-talkie on, “Raven, back to base. Over.”

“Copy that, is Clarke there? Over.”

Clarke took the walkie from Monty, “Yeah I am, now stop wasting batteries Reyes. Over.”

“How many of them are out there right now?” she asked Monty, heading to their weapons table and removing her katana, knives and gun and setting them carefully in a pile.

“Raven, Jas, Miller, Roma, Tris and Anya. Lincoln stayed here to make sure nothing happened while you were gone and the search party was out.” Monty glanced at the office they used to plan their next moves, “he was in there last time I saw him.”

“Thanks,” she reached over to ruffle his hair and then headed into the office, shutting the door carefully behind her. “I’m back with Charlotte and the others are coming in now.” she informed him, perching easily on the edge of the desk.

“You could’ve come back and told us a little sooner.” he scolded, spreading the map across the deck and pointing at a road not too far away. “Here looks good for a scavenging trip.”

“We were surrounded,” Clarke defended, “had to wait them out. Why there?”

“Industrial area that packaged and sourced the local supermarkets with food and possibly bottled water. I figure maybe the walkers aren’t spread so thick over there, and that the people haven’t realized what that warehouse really is and picked it clean.” He sighed and ran a hand over his head, “we can’t stay in the city too much longer, Clarke. Too many walkers and far too little supplies.”

She hummed unhappily, “Yeah, but where will we go? Every where’s getting as bad as bad as here, there are more walking dead than walking humans these days, no one is making food anymore. We’re going to have to set up somewhere, fortify it and stay there. Become self-sustainable.”

“Clarke?” the door swung open and Raven strode in followed closely by Anya, the others stood discarding their weapons and Jasper offered her a smile before the door swung closed behind them.

Raven strode over and allowed herself to be pulled into a hug by Clarke, rolling her eyes fondly at the girl while Lincoln gave his sister a once over, checking for injuries.

“How’d it go out there?” Clarke asked her, releasing her grip so Raven could sit next to her on the desk.

“Fine, didn’t run into any trouble, but we didn’t find any useful supplies either. Jasper talked to Dan though, apparently there’s going to be a herd coming through in a few days.”

Lincoln and Clarke exchanged a glance, “We’re going to need vehicles.” Clarke spoke first, “At least from the edge of the city to a nearby town or something, we can’t walk all that way.”

“Deal.” Lincoln said turning his attention to the map for a moment before looking back at Clarke. “Now, do we wait for the herd and then leave, or do we get out now?”

“The sooner we leave the better." Raven spoke up, “we wait for them to pass and they’re everywhere; the zombies already here are worked up and wandering around, there are more on the roads around the city.”

“Okay, then we need to work out a plan before we confront the group with this.”

~

“Here, I believe this belongs to you.” Clarke handed Raven the gun as they left the office and the girl grinned at her.

“I was wondering where that went, you know if you were going to miss me you could’ve taken a t-shirt like a normal person. She said, laughing when Clarke bumped her shoulder into her.

“Charlotte took it Reyes, try and keep your ego in check.” Clarke said with a mock frown as they made their way towards the others. 

“It has been getting kind of heavy.” Raven said solemnly, laughing at the face Clarke pulled at her comment.

~

“We’re leaving the city.” Clarke announced to the small band of delinquents, crossing her arms across her chest. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, but for those of us who decide to come, we’ll be leaving in two days.”

“Why are we leaving?” Roma asked, moving to stand at the front of the group, “Don’t we have a good thing going here?”

“We’ve picked the city clean; all that’s left here for us is the dead. A herd is going to blow its way through here in about three days, and we plan to be gone before that happens.”

Roma nodded and moved back to stand at Tris’s side once again, “I’m coming with you.”

“Me too.” Harper said and Monroe stood nodding next to her.

A chorus of affirmations followed and Clarke and Lincoln smiled at each other and then the others, “We’re going to go over the plan then. Lincoln.” Clarke gestured him forwards and stepped back.

“Tomorrow Clarke, Raven, Miller, Jasper, Roma and I are going on one last scavenging trip, if it all goes well then we should be set for a while, which gives us time to leave the city and set up a basic place to sleep in an outlying town before we should need to worry about supplies again. Anya and Monty are in charge while we’re gone; once we’re back we pack up, have dinner and go to bed. First light the next morning we’re gone, we travel to the edge of the city and try to find working cars to drive out of the city. Anyone gets lost; we regroup at this side road by dawn the next day.”

Clarke steps forwards and holds up a map and Lincoln points to a side road that’s not too far outside town.

“This’ll be good for us,” Clarke tells them, smiling reassuringly. “Maybe this is the chance we’ve been waiting for to really live again. Now get some sleep, we’re in for a busy next few days.”

~

“Clear.”

“Clear.”

“Clear.” Clarke thumbed off the walkie-talkie and moved to join Raven by the giant shelves that towered over them.

“Let’s see what we’ve got.” Raven said with a grin.

She strode to one of the shelves and started rifling through the boxes and Clarke joined her, the pair making a pile of preserved foods and any other useful items they found.

“Lincoln and Jasper, how are you guys doing?” Clarke asked, hooking the walkie back onto her belt and helping Raven place cans of preserved fruits and baked beans into bags.

“Pretty good over here,” Jasper was the first to respond. “We found a lot of bars and packaged stuff along with some batteries. We’re loading it up as we speak.”

Clarke laughed as Raven smirked victoriously upon hearing about the batteries. 

“Good to hear, Jas. Lots of canned goods on our end. Lincoln, Roma, what about you guys?”

There was nothing but static for a moment before the walkie-talkie crackled back to life.

“Sorry, nothing to interesting up on the second level, it’s mainly offices.” Roma spoke, and Clarke could hear Lincoln moving around in the background. “There’s some water and a bunch of personal shit, although we did find some alcohol and a handgun in some of the desk draws.”

“Nice,” Clarke replied appreciatively, as a last resort she could use the alcohol to sterilize any wounds the group sustained. “Let’s meet back by the loading bay in ten.”

A series of affirmations came and everyone finished packing up their hauls before trailing over to the doors.

“Okay,” Lincoln spoke, peering through the doors and out into the loading bay. “It still looks pretty clear outside, just one walker outside the gates. You think you can handle that, Clarke?”

“Of course,” she said with a scoff, unsheathing her katana.

“Good, after that we head back along the same route we came on, any problems we hold formation and assess the situation, got it?”

The group nodded and slunk through the loading bay doors. Clarke took the lead, decapitating the walker before it had even realized that they were there.

They were a few blocks away from the garage when they heard the screams and the rest of the group froze around her. Dropping her backpack in front of Lincoln, she shot him an apologetic smile.

“Stay here. Raven, you’re with me.” As the girl shed her backpack as well Clarke  
spoke to Lincoln, “We’ll check it out and be right back.”

With that she took off down the street, Raven on her heels with her machete in hand. They paused at the corner and she peered around the edge of the building. At the sight Clarke sucked in a breath and glanced back at Raven.

“Five of them cornering a girl, they’ll get to her soon.”

“Then what are we waiting around for?” Raven grinned and stepped off the curb and into the street, dragging her machete along the length of an illegally parked car, a move which earning her the attention of the walkers.

Rolling her eyes at her antics Clarke joined her, katana in hand as she moved in for the first strike, easily removing the walkers head as Raven wrecked a large ones knee and cleaved its head in two.

“A bit showy there Ray,” she chuckled working her way through another one and closer to the girl, “you got this?”

“Don’t I always?” she replied easily as her machete slid halfway through the neck of what was once a business lady in a fancy suit before she had to pull it back for another swing.

Clarke whirled her blade and it slid through the last ones head like putty before she sheathed it and strode the remaining steps towards Octavia.

“You’re lucky you can scream so loudly.” She announced before Octavia surged forwards and wrapped her arms around her neck.

“Thanks Clarke,” she breathed shakily, pulling back as Raven approached.

“What am I?” she huffed, machete dangling loosely from her hand, spilling droplets of blood onto the pavement. “That last bitch had a thick neck.”

Clarke wrinkled her nose at her and whacked Raven in the arm, “This is Raven. Octavia, what are you doing out here?”

At her question the girl glanced guiltily at the ground, “I wanted to see the city for myself, and I guess I underestimated the whole danger element.”

“Jesus Octavia, does your brother know that you’re here?”

Octavia shook her head and Clarke sighed, “Come with me, we have to take some stuff back to the garage and then I’m taking you home.”

She nodded meekly and trailed after Clarke and Raven as they headed back to the others.

“This is Octavia.” Raven announced before shouldering her backpack and continuing up the street, leaving the others to follow after her.

“The Octavia you met in the apartment building?” Lincoln asked her quietly once they were moving again.

“I’m taking her home once we’re done here.” Clarke answered his unasked question.

“You’re taking Raven.” Was his only response to it and she nodded.

“Like I would be able to leave her behind even if I wanted to.”


	2. Part Two

After finally managing to convince the others that she really did need to take Octavia home before her brother had a heart attack over the fact that she was gone in the first place, Clarke and Raven escorted Octavia back to her apartment building.

Octavia stood by the side door and bit her lip nervously, “I don’t suppose you’d want to walk me upstairs, make sure he doesn’t murder me or anything drastic like that?”

“Sure,” Raven replied eagerly, gazing up at the building and Clarke smiled at her affectionately, knowing she really just wanted to wander around the building for a while and check the place out. “We’d love to.”

Octavia opened the door and stepped inside, Raven following and all but dragged Clarke along behind her.

“Why’d you think us being there is going to make your brother freak out any less?” Raven asked, trailing her fingers along the walls and peering into the gutted apartments they passed.

“Don’t know, but if things went too badly I was planning on throwing Clarke at him.” She shrugged and turned to Raven, “they were getting along pretty nicely the other day, and trust me when I say my brothers not a big fan of strangers these days.”

Raven looked back at Clarke with a smirk, “Really now.”

Clarke sighed at Raven and pointed a finger at her, “Don’t start with that, Raven Reyes.”

“She’s getting all leadery, full name and everything, how terrifying.” Raven goaded, batting her eyes at her and stopping behind Octavia as they reached the door to her apartment.

Octavia reached out hesitantly to grip the doorknob, but before she could close her fingers around it the door swung open to reveal a scowling Bellamy.

“Octavia Marie Blake,” he snarled, “where the Hell have you been?”

“I just wanted to see the city, Bell.” She sighed, pushing past him into the apartment. “You never let me out of these four walls; I just wanted to see it for myself.”

“I keep you here because it’s not safe out there Octavia. You know that!”

“I do now.” She muttered under her breath, throwing herself sideways onto the couch very dramatically.

He frowned at her, narrowing his eyes and folding his arms across his chest, “what exactly is that supposed to mean, Octavia?”

“It means, big brother, that if Clarke and Raven hadn’t found me when they did, then I would be very dead right now.”

Bellamy turned to the pair who stood just inside the door frame, “Thank you so much.”

“No problem,” Raven spoke up from her place next to Clarke, “I’m Raven, nice to meet you.”

“Bellamy,” he ran a hand through his hair and turned to look at Octavia before turning back to them, “you can come in if you want, I was just about to head out and look for you.” He aimed the last comment at Octavia who huffed out a breath in reply as she righted herself on the couch.

“We can’t I’m afraid” Clarke smiled apologetically, “we have a lot to do tonight. We’re leaving the city tomorrow.”

“Leaving, why?” Octavia peered over the back of the couch, frowning at Clarke.

“There’s a herd coming through day after tomorrow and we’ve picked the place clean, it’s time we moved on.” Raven told them, fiddling with the zipper of her jacket. “None of us want to die here.”

“You’re welcome to join us, you know.” Clarke offered glancing back at Raven who nodded her approval.

“Would the rest of your group be okay with that?” Bellamy said, tugging his bottom lip between his teeth.

“Of course,” Clarke nodded, “there were seven of us originally, one of us died and then we started talking in strays. They’ve all been in your position at some point, besides,” she smirked at them, “I’m in charge.”

“In that case,” Bellamy shared a quick look with Octavia, “we would like that very much.”

Clarke took Raven on a walk through the building while the Blake’s gathered their things and Raven split her time between examining the building and examining Clarke.

“Just come out and say it Raven,” Clarke sighed after ten minutes of this, “do you think I shouldn’t have asked them to join us?”

“No, I think that was the right thing to do. I was thinking more along the lines of you like him.” Raven laughed at Clarke’s expression, “Understandably of course, he is extremely attractive.”

“It’s just-” Clarke let out a sigh, and ran a hand through her hair, “after the whole thing with Finn, I don’t know about this.”

“Clarke,” Raven paused and wrapped her arms around the blonde, resting her chin on her shoulder, “that was a long time ago, before all this. We were both idiots and he was an asshole, but look where that got us.”

“Aren’t you not supposed to speak ill of the dead or something? Although if he ever did anything good for me, he did get me you.” Clarke admitted, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, “although you did slap me the first time we met.”

“You were the bitch who stole my boyfriend, I didn’t realize we were both in the dark about each other and I know that I’ve apologized for that before.”

“Yeah yeah,” Clarke broke their embrace and shoved her gently in the direction of the stairs, “we’d better head back up there, and we should be getting back soon. The others will be beginning to worry.”

~

“Hey, Miller, have you seen Lincoln around?” Clarke asked as she entered the main room with Raven and the Blake siblings in tow.

“He went out with Anya and Tris, said he’d be back before dark.” Miller said, smiling at Raven, “good to see you came back alive little sister.” 

Clarke laughed at Ravens answering scowl.

“You’re only older by four minutes,” she complained, bumping her arm against his as she passed, “Clarke, tell him he can’t call me little.”

Clapping Miller on the back, Clarke followed her over to where Monty was fiddling with something, gesturing for Bellamy and Octavia to follow her.

“I’m not abusing my leadership to get your brother to stop teasing you Raven, it’s not my job to mother you lot.” she scolded, before turning to the siblings, “that was Miller, Ravens brother. Lincoln helps me run things, but he’s out at the moment with his siblings. It’s a weird bonding thing.” she added seeing their confusion.

“This is Monty,” Raven introduced when they caught up to her, “and this is Jasper, where there is one, the other is never far behind.”

They both smiled, lifting grease covered hands to wave and Clarke smiled at them fondly. “Jas and Raven are our mechanics, Monty knows the basics, but electronics and botany are more his thing. Have you two figured out how to start the cars?”

“Oh ye of little faith,” Jasper grinned at her, adjusting the permanently haphazardly placed goggles that sat on top of his head and led her over to the car they had been using as their test subject. “So first things first, you’re going to need to pick the locks, so I must ask, does anyone else here possess your unique skill set?”

“Raven, maybe Miller and Harper.”

“Awesome, so then Raven, Monty or I will hotwire the car, but you’re going to want to look for older models because the newer cars have wiring that’s harder to access.”

Monty nodded his agreement and pitched in, “Models from the nineties are good candidates, also be careful when picking the locks, one wrong move and the alarm will go off drawing out any walkers that are nearby.”

“Gotcha,” Clarke pulled them into a hug, “we would’ve been great criminals if all this hadn’t gone down.”

“You know it.” they smirked and high fived each other before returning to Raven and their workbench and leaving Clarke to introduce everyone.

~

“Clarke!” Lincoln yelled, shoving the door open with his shoulder.

Clarke glanced up from her round of introductions to find Lincoln and Anya dragging a limp Tris between them into the room, their clothes soaked with blood and one of Anya’s hands pressed against her sister’s stomach.

“Was she bitten?” Clarke demanded, striding over and gripping Tris’s chin, lifting her head so she could see the girl’s eyes.

“No,” Lincolns voice came out harsh as he panted, trying to suck in enough air to explain the situation, “she was shot.”

Clarke could hear the others shifting and whispering nervously behind her at his words, and she had to admit she felt more than a little anxious about the whole situation herself.

“Munroe, can you clear me a bench and fetch my tools?” she yelled before turning back to him, “shot?” she hissed, helping them manoeuvre Tris onto the space Munroe had cleared.

“They came out of nowhere,” he lifted his sister carefully onto the bench and then stepped back so Clarke could assess her, “started firing, so we ducked around the corner but Tris had been hit.”

“Did they know you were human?”

Lincoln nodded grimly and Clarke turned to her patient, peeling the girl’s shirt off and discarding it on the floor, gently probing the wound.

“Munroe, help me turn her onto her side.” she said and the pair of them lifted the girl onto her side so that Clarke could inspect her back. “There’s an exit wound,”  
She announced with relief, “So long as the bullet hasn’t done any major damage, I might be able to save her.”

Everyone who was even mildly squeamish filtered into the second room, while the rest opted to stay and watch Clarke operate. 

“She was in her second year of medical school; her mom was a surgeon too so Clarke picked up some stuff.” Raven told the Blake’s in a quiet tone.

Later as Clarke stitched up Tris, Lincoln told her exactly what had happened; they’d been out checking their routes for tomorrow when they had seen a guy standing in the street, he had turned around and seen them and then he had opened fire, another one had joined him and Lincoln, Tris and Anya had ducked around the corner, but Tris had been shot.

“What I would like to know is what some idiot is doing wandering around and shooting at people,” Clarke commented, sniping the threat and placing the needle down.

“Good thing we’re leaving then,” Raven told her, handing her a rag to clean the blood off her hands with.

Accepting it gratefully, Clarke nodded in agreement, resting a hand on Tris’s forehead. “She’s warm, which means there’s a fever, but that’s normal. If she makes it through the night then she might be okay.” Clarke turned to Lincoln, “we need to talk,” she held up a hand to stop him when he began to protest, “Anya and Munroe will stay with her and this shouldn’t wait.”

Lincoln scowled and stalked into the back room, Clarke motioned for Raven and the Blake’s to follow her, telling Munroe to keep an eye on Tris and to fetch Clarke if anything happened.

“What is this about?” Lincoln asked as soon as the door was shut firmly behind them.

“We need to talk about tomorrow,” Clarke told him, “go over the plans; we’re going to have to adjust them now that we have to worry about Tris.”

“You cannot be serious,” Lincoln told her, folding his arms tightly across his chest.

“I’m sorry about your sister Lincoln, I am. But Clarke is right,” Raven stepped forwards and carefully placed her hand on his shoulder, “we need to stick to the plan, it’s our best chance.”

“The city is out of medical supplies, food, and it would be harder to move quickly with the added number this new herd will bring, especially with Tris injured like she is.”

Lincoln sighed and rubbed a hand over his close shaved head, “fine, what are you suggesting?”

“Same plan, you and Harper can move Tris, Anya and Miller can shoot anything that comes near you, the rest of us will split into small groups and scavenge for cars. We find the cars and get out. This is Bellamy, Octavia’s brother, the two of them will be joining us,” Clarke gestured towards them and then turned back to assess Lincoln’s reaction.

“Good, we could use them, and he looks like he’s good with a gun.” Lincoln tells her, “Now, can I please get back to my sister.”

~

Clarke fiddled with the car lock, Raven and Bellamy facing outwards with their guns at the ready.

“Finally!” Clarke hissed as the lock snicked open and she pulled open the door, “Raven, you think you can get this one started?” she asked, trading places with the girl and pulling her sidearm from its holster, training it at the ground.

Raven ducked under the console for a while, messing around with the wiring before popping her head out and grinning, “Hell yeah I can.”

Clarke grinned at her in triumph but before she could reply a piercing scream cut through the air. Bellamy and Clarke shared a look before they both bolted towards the sound, Raven and Octavia following behind them as they ran.

“Munroe!” Clarke yelled, skidding around the corner, replacing her gun with her katana.

Munroe was standing on the hood of a car, kicking zombies away and screaming for help while Wells was on the ground with a zombie at his throat and another at his stomach, going for the easy kill.

Bellamy slung his gun off his shoulder, raising it and shooting a zombie trying to bite Monroe from behind through the head with Raven at his side as Clarke advanced, whirling and slicing, dismembering zombies as she steadily worked her way towards Monroe.

“I am so sorry, Clarke,” Munroe finally spoke as Clarke was helping her down from the roof of the car, staring guiltily at Wells corpse.

“Not your fault,” Clarke told her, slinging an arm around her shoulders, “it’s happened to most of us at one point or another.” Clarke could feel Ravens gaze on her at that.

Clarke stepped away from Munroe and moved back towards Wells’ corpse, pulling her hunting knife from its place on her belt and pressing it to his eye. She took a deep breath before applying enough pressure to pierce the orbital socket, damaging the brain and ensuring that he wouldn’t rise as one of the walking dead.

“May we meet again.” she whispered quietly before turning her back on his corpse.

“Let’s go back to that car,” Raven told them, breaking the silence much to Clarke’s relief, “I almost had it going before.”

Mumbling in agreement the others warily trailed Raven back to the car, weapons drawn and ready for a fight.

“He saved my life.” Munroe told her softly before hurrying to catch up to Octavia, leaving Clarke and Bellamy to watch their backs.

They stopped a few meters away from the car, scanning the area warily as Octavia handed Raven tools and Munroe stood, gun at the ready, making sure nothing appeared and got too close to either of them.

“Were you two close?” Bellamy asked her, peering at the buildings surrounding them on four sides, stooping forwards like old men who had stopped for a chat, their gaping windows giving them a perfect view of the carnage.

“Yeah,” Clarke worried at her bottom lip with her teeth, “I’ve known Wells since I was in diapers, our parents were close, and so were we until school kind of pulled us apart. It’s more than that though; it’s more like losing possibly the last part of my childhood I had left.”

“I can understand that.”

Clarke followed his gaze back to Octavia and nodded, “I suppose you do.”


	3. Part Three

“We’re ready to leave when you are,” the radio on Clarke’s belt crackled to life and she huffed out a breath as she dodged another zombie, sending it in Bellamy’s direction.

“Almost done there, Raven?”

“Almost,” Raven replied, tongue sticking out of her mouth in concentration.

“How long exactly is almost?” Clarke calls, swinging her blade in a vicious half circle, the air singing with the movement.

“Like, a minute?”

“We can do a minute,” Bellamy agreed, moving so he was back to back with Clarke, trying to buy Raven enough time to start the car.

Munroe was perched on the hood, shooting any zombies that they missed, while Octavia helped Raven finish the job.

“Done!” Raven yelled, moving so she was sitting in the driver’s seat. Octavia slid into the back seat and Munroe skidded off the hood and into the passenger’s seat, cranking down the window as the engine hummed to life and shooting anything that tried to approach. 

Clarke and Bellamy slowly backed up until they were pressed against the car.

“One,” Bellamy began quietly, “two,”

Clarke reached behind her for the door handle and yanked the door open allowing Bellamy to clamber into the back seat with Clarke getting right in after him.

“Go, Raven!” Clarke ordered, reaching down to unclip the walkie talkie from her belt, “we’re ready, and we need to leave now, is everyone good to go?”

There's a chorus of yeses and then their car meets up with the others, Raven pulls in behind Jasper and Roma joins onto the back of their little convoy as they head for the road out of the city, a few walkers ambling after the cars as they pass.

A few miles down the road Raven signals for the other cars to pull over, and their little gang of delinquents pile out onto the tarmac.

"Where's Wells?" Lincoln asks, standing by the open door of the back car, one eye on her and the other on Tris, who remained unconscious in the back seat.

"He's dead." Raven tells them from Clarke's right hand side, "there was an incident and we were too late to save him."

Lincoln nods tight lipped; they all knew that everyone wasn't going to make it out alive, but it was still hard to hear that they'd lost someone.

"Is everyone else okay?" Clarke asks, warily eying the faces staring back at her.

They all voice affirmations and Clarke felt relieved. One person was all she could handle losing today.

"We should get going; head over to the town we picked and set up a base camp, scout the place out and figure where we're going to go from here."

The others agree with Lincoln and they solemnly climb back into their vehicles. Raven pulls out in front and leads the way as Octavia reads her directions from the back seat.

Clarke chooses to stare quietly out her window, a few months ago if anyone had asked she would have said she was admiring the scenery, but now she wasn't sure herself if she was looking at the scenery or scanning for danger.

Every so often she looks up to catch Raven watching her in the rear view mirror or Bellamy frowning at her from his seat by her side.

“If one of you is going to say something then just come out and say it.” she says eventually. By now the light is gradually fading from the sky, saturating the world in hues of red, orange and purple.

Octavia and Monroe had fallen asleep almost an hour ago, lulled to sleep my the steady rocking of the car and the mix tape that Monroe had found in the glove box that Raven had proceeded to laugh at for a good five minutes.

Bellamy turns to face her, careful not to jostle Octavia who was using him as a pillow, and Raven’s eyes flicker up to meet hers in the rear-view mirror before returning to the road in front of them.

“I’m worried about you, Clarke.” Raven tells her calmly, chewing at the inside of her cheek, “I know you think that you have to be strong for us, but you don’t. This isn’t the first person we’ve lost, but it is the first one who’s been personal since Finn.”

Clarke’s head snaps up at his name and she glares steadily at the back of Raven’s head, “Don’t bring him into this, Raven. He was an asshole, but he didn’t deserve to die like that.”

Raven sighs and Clarke thinks that she’s going to drop it when she speaks again, “I know he didn’t, you know that’s not what I meant. Finn’s death wasn’t your fault and neither was Well’s.”

Tiredly she sweeps her hair from her face before resting her head against the seat behind her, “sometimes it doesn’t feel like it, Raven.”

“You’re the reason that most of us are still alive right now, Clarke. You can’t ask for more than that.”

“Yeah, I can.”

~

“Does it look any good?” Clarke asks Lincoln hopefully as he returns with Roma and Bellamy to where she’s been organizing the others.

“All clear and the building’s still intact, we should be good here for a few days, longer than planned if we have to.” Lincoln tells her quietly, eyes shifting to where his sister lay still unconscious in the back of the car.

“I’ll look at her as soon as we’re settled here.” Clarke promises, beginning to direct people into the house and telling them where to leave the gear, “Raven, Jasper can you guys move the cars round the back?”

"Sure Clarke." Jasper grinned from where he was helping Monty unload their tools, "Give me a second and I'll get right on that."

"Thanks' Jas." She called as she moved over to where Monroe was unloading their medical equipment. "Take that to an upstairs room, we're going to set Tris up in one of them and that will be our makeshift medical bay for the time being."

She nodded and left Clarke to direct Lincoln and Anya on where to take their sister and to get the others inside before it got any darker than it already was.

"Charlotte," Clarke turned to the girl in question who was sitting in the back of Roma's jeep watching the others hurry around and trying not to yawn, "go inside with Octavia and try to get some sleep."

She spun around to face Clarke, looking poised to argue her case, but then her shoulders slumped and she nodded, looking defeated as she trudged into the house behind the Octavia.

Surveying what had been done so far she sighed and ordered everyone into the house. They could finish unloading the cars tomorrow when it was light outside and they weren't all dead on their feet.

Clarke waited on the front porch until Raven and Jasper moved the cars around the back and then they headed into the living room in the back of the house where everyone had set up their beds.

“Get some sleep, guys.” Clarke warned as she headed over to where Raven had set up her blankets on the floor, “we have a very busy day ahead of us.”

Everyone muttered their goodnights and Clarke switched off the gas lamp on her way past, heading for the stairs so she could check on Tris before she tried to get some sleep.

Charlotte calls her over before she gets very far, asking to be tucked in and given a goodnight kiss. Clarke indulges her, because sometimes in all the blood and chaos and death she forgets that Charlotte is only a seven year old girl who probably shouldn’t have survived as long as she had, but Clarke is glad that she did.  
She smoothed the blanket over the girl, tucking her into a cocoon, and then repeats the action as she brushes her hair back from her forehead and presses her lips to the top of her head.

“Goodnight, Charlotte.” She speaks in a soft voice, doing her best not to disturb the others, though she knows some of them, most of them, won’t be able to fall asleep for hours yet, until they’re sure that they’re safe and they have counted the breaths of everyone in the room, catalogued every creak that the settling house makes and they are sure that the wind outside isn’t the scuff of a walkers dragging steps.

She pulls back and heads up the stairs, footsteps light although she knows that it won’t make much of a difference to those downstairs.

“I’m going to check on her and then you two should get some sleep.” Clarke tells Lincoln and Anya as she enters the room, heading for the bed they had laid Tris out on.

She gave the girl a check-up, examining the wound and checking the stitches before turning to the siblings who were slumped together in a corner, dark circles under their eyes, though neither looked like they were going to actually sleep anytime soon.

“It’s not looking too good, I know I said that the bullet missed everything important, but there’s nothing I can do about an infection, I wasn’t trained for this.” she tells them apologetically and Anya looks ready to argue with her, but Lincoln places a hand on her arm and she snaps her mouth shut.

“Thanks’ Clarke, we know that you’re doing the best you can.”

After an elbow to her side Anya nods sullenly, but Clarke can see the fear in her eyes at the prospect of losing her sister, at losing someone else.

Smiling weakly she makes her way back downstairs and picks her way across the room in the dark, dropping to the floor next to Raven and pulling her blanket around her shoulders.

“I’m sorry.” she whispered softly, if there was one person Clarke couldn’t bear thinking was mad at her it was Raven. They’d been through too much together already.”

Raven hummed in acknowledgement, wrapping an arm around her and resting her chin on the top of Clarke's head.

“You always are.”

~

Clarke wakes to screaming and she supposes she should have grown used to it by now, but she doesn’t think she ever really will.

It turns out to be Octavia, and never has Clarke been more grateful for anyone’s set of lungs than that damn girl.

She is standing at the top of the stairs when Clarke reaches her, clutching the knife that she’d grabbed as she escaped the tangle of blankets and the warmth of Ravens arms to get to the girl. 

Bellamy is not too far behind her and she chalks that down to him knowing the sound of his sisters screams.

Clarke shoulders past the girl, who directs her with shaking hands to the room where she had left Tris, Anya and Lincoln before she’d headed to bed last night.

“Stay downstairs,” she snaps at the others, who in haphazard states of dress and alertness are struggling to follow the blonde up the stairs to find the source of the noise.

She glances back to see everyone except Raven and Bellamy have obeyed her, Bellamy to get to his sister and Raven to get to her.

Bellamy is ushering his sister down the stairs when she turns, preparing to swing the door further open and Raven has situated herself at the top of the stairs, ready to prevent whatever is happening in this bedroom from getting downstairs and anywhere near the rest of the group.

Knife gripped tightly on one hand, Clarke pushes the door open with the other and all three of the sibling’s gazes snap towards her.

Tris is up and on top of Anya, pinning her sister to the ground as her teeth snap at her in frustration. Anya has one forearm pressed into her sister's throat and the other is wound behind her, gripping a fistful of her hair tightly.

This is one of the only things keeping her from sinking her teeth into Anya’s face; the other is Lincoln, who has a fistful on Tris’s shirt in one hand, trying to get a solid grip around her waist with the other.

Tris is savage in her new found strength, hands clawing for a purchase and her body straining forwards in a desperate attempt to get to her sister. The only things that mark her as one of the changed, other than the new savagery that she embodies so well, is the chalky pallor that nothing other than death can achieve and that dead glint in her eye that is impossible to fake.

It takes both Clarke and Lincoln to haul her off Anya, who scrambles backwards on all fours like a crab and honestly looks more shocked than Clarke has ever seen her.

They shove her towards a corner and it grants them the few precious seconds they need to gather their bearings.

“Get her out of here.” Clarke warns Lincoln, jerking her head in Anya’s direction, “this isn’t something either of you need to see.”

Lincoln helps his sister to his feet and with an arm firmly around her shoulders escorts her into the hallway where Raven is waiting, swinging the door shut behind them.

“May we meet again.” Clarke tells her, and this is the second time she’s had to do this in two days


	4. Chapter Four

The next morning they move the rest of their things inside while Anya and Lincoln take Tris’s body and the two shovels they’d found in the shed out behind the house into the woods.

Neither of them comes back for three hours and Clarke leaves them to their grieving and busies herself and everyone else with menial tasks and housekeeping. 

Clarke has finally allowed everyone to migrate to their own tasks and is watching Miller help Charlotte with her aim in the backyard when Bellamy joins her on the steps.

They sit in silence for a few moments before he speaks, peering sideways at her like she might bite him if he’s not careful. Which she supposes isn’t exactly an unreasonable fear nowadays.

“I’m sorry you had to do that.” he tells her sincerely, eyes now fixed on the treeline and Clarke wonders if he’s scanning for threats the same way she had just been doing, or if he is merely appreciating the scenery. 

“It’s something we’re going to have to get used to doing, killing and burying our own.” she clenches her fists, and when she unclenches them there are tiny crescent moons carved into the skin of her palms.

“I don’t know if I can.” he tells her quietly, his eyes flickering from the trees to her and back again, “I mean, we have to hope that it gets better than it is right now because otherwise what’s the point?”

“Surviving,” Clarke tells him firmly, “through everything the human race has been through, the one thing we have always done is endure. Although that was very poetic of you.”

“That’s an interesting way to look at it.”

“We all need something to believe in.” she smiles at him fondly and he looks about to say something when Anya and Lincoln return. 

Trudging out of the woods Anya heads straight into the house while Lincoln stops in front of them, standing at the bottom of the stairs and staring up at her.

“Thank you,” he tells her sincerely, “for what you did last night. I don’t know if either of us would have been able to do that.”

Anya comes back out and slings a backpack in Lincoln's direction; she nods at Clarke and then moves to stand at the edge of the forest, waiting for her brother.

“Where are you going?” Clarke frowns down at Lincoln who is shouldering his pack and tucking a handgun into the back of his jeans.

“Hunting, we should be back in three days’ time.” 

Clarke sighs, but nods her consent anyway. She knew they would have still gone even if she had forbade them and her mother had once told her that she should never give an order that she didn’t think would be obeyed, and her mother had been right about most of the things in her life.

Clarke stands to watch them disappear into the woods and then turns to head back into the house. She pauses, hand on the doorframe when Bellamy speaks from behind her.

“But do you really think we deserve to survive this, Clarke? Aren’t some things meant to be too big to endure?”

She waits for a moment, thinking this over before she enters the house, screen door swinging shut behind her with a thud.

~

That night once everyone is either asleep or attempting to sleep, Clarke, Raven, Jasper, Monty and Bellamy gather upstairs in what evidently used to be a study to work out something with some semblance to a plan.

“We can’t stay here.” Clarke announces once they’ve all settled into the space, “it’s not secure enough and there’s no room to plant or expand.”

“Agreed, but where are we going to go?” Monty asks, “Any place around here that would be suitable is probably already claimed or over run.”

Clarke splays their map across the desk, gesturing to a small town on the outskirts of the city, “This is us here.”

“I don’t like it, we’re still too close.” Raven tells her, peering over her shoulder at the map, “once they run out of food in the city they’ll work their way outwards and eventually they’ll turn up here on our doorstep.”

“So we need to move further away from the city into some of the more rural areas and set ourselves up before the walkers get far enough out that they stumble across us.” Bellamy speaks up, pointing to a large area of open land that isn’t too close to the city.

“If we get ourselves set up before they begin moving in our direction then maybe we can lock them out, keep it secure, stay there and have a real home again.” Jasper agreed from where he was sprawled across the opposite half of the couch to Monty.

“Sounds like a plan then, we’re going to have to find some more fuel though; our supplies are running low and we should search around for some other stuff as well while we’re here. Medical supplies, food and water, batteries.” Clarke runs a hand through her hair and steps back from the table. 

"You've gotten us this far," Raven tells her, "Besides, this is the best chance we've got right now."

"That isn't exactly saying much." Clarke objects, perching on the arm of Raven’s chair. “Here is death and uncertainty and many bad decisions one after the other.”

“Are you always this cheerful?” Bellamy asked suddenly from the opposite side of the room, and the way he was looking at her reminded her of their earlier conversation, and yes, more than anything she needed to believe that they deserved to be saved.

“I try to be.” she shot back, “but the current environment isn’t exactly helpful to my plight.”

“More zombies might help to remedy that.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Clarke stood and refolded the map, “As soon as Lincoln and Anya are back we’re leaving.”

Murmuring their goodnights, they all headed back downstairs sans Clarke and Raven, who had first watch on the temporary roster Bellamy had drawn up after Clarke had decided on the necessity of it.

The pair settled in rooms on opposite sides of the house, doors to the rooms open so they could talk across the hall.

Rifle resting across her lap as she sat at the window faced with the murky darkness and the tangled wilderness of trees Clarke’s mind wandered as it normally did, dredging up old memories better forgotten than remembered.

“I can hear you thinking from all the way over here,” Raven called, eyes trained on the cracked concrete of the road, “so whatever you’re reliving, stop it.”

“Okay,” Clarke agreed, “but only if you agree to answer a question.”

“I would answer it anyway, but go ahead.” 

“Do you think we deserve to survive this?”

“Us, as in us us, or us as in the human race us?”

“Would it make a difference?” Clarke asked curiously, stroking a finger across her gun.

“Na,” Raven replied decisively, “we don’t deserve to survive this, but we will anyway, because it’s what we do. This group is comprised of good people, but anyone can do bad things, they just need to find the right price.”

“Reassuring.” 

“I try to be.” And Clarke could hear the smirk in the girl’s voice from where she sat.

~

Lincoln and Anya didn’t return until two days later, which was a day earlier than they had said they would be back, however Clarke felt like the man, boy, they dragged blindfolded, bound and gagged from the woods probably had something to do with that.

“What the Hell is this?” Clarke demanded while Raven ushered everyone else inside.

“He was with the guys who shot Tris.” Anya spat, kicking the back of his leg so he crumpled to his knees, “we just want some answers.”

“Jesus-” Clarke dragged her fingers through her hair, turning in a full three-sixty before continuing, "I realize that you want answers for Tris, but this is not the way to do it."

"They were in the city, Clarke."

"And?"

"So why did we find him wandering around in the woods?" 

Clarke froze and glanced from the woods to the house and then back to Lincoln. 

"Get him into the shed and tie him down good." She ordered, "I'll tell the others to stay inside and keep an eye out."

She strode towards the house as Lincoln dragged him into the shed, followed by Anya who grabbed a length of rope from the railings of the back porch and strode in after them.

"What's going on?" Raven met Clarke at the back door and spoke in a low voice, body blocking the others view of the yard. 

"I don't know, Ray." Clarke sighed and leant back against the door jam. "They say he's with the guys who shot Tris, they're looking for justice or something." 

"Want me to go supervise them while you hold down the fort?" Raven offered and Clarke shot her a grateful smile. 

"Would you?" 

"Of course, go." Raven waved a hand behind her and stepped out onto the porch, "I'll keep an eye on those two." 

Clarke wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently before turning on her heel and disappearing further into the house. 

The others were gathered in the living room, scattered across the sparse furniture in the room and the hardwood floors. 

"What's going on?" Harper asked from her left the second she stepped into the room and the other murmured in agreement. 

"Lincoln and Anya are back with one of the men who shot Tris." Clarke told them honestly, "They say they just want to talk, but for now it's safer for us to stay inside and keep out an eye for any of his trigger happy buddies." 

The others looked between her and each other uneasily before dispersing through the house, Roma and Jasper disappearing upstairs for first watch. 

Clarke discreetly rounded up Monty, Miller and Bellamy and filled them in on everything. 

"What's the plan?" Monty asked. 

"We wait and see how this thing plays out, however we need to be ready to leave in a hurry." Clarke warned them. 

~

"Hey Princess." Bellamy stood in the doorway of the small bedroom turned medical centre as Clarke reapplied the bandage to Munroe’s arm. 

"That's looking much better. Hi Bellamy." She turned to face him as Munroe exited the room. "How can I help you?"

"You're good company." He smiled at her and moved further into the room, standing by the window. 

"I'm not so sure about that." Clarke told him, trying to ignore the wet penny scent of blood lingering in the room. 

She had scrubbed the floors with bleach she had found at the back of the laundry cupboard but no matter how hard she had tried she couldn't quite get the smell of blood to disappear. 

"Could we move this to another room?" She interrupted whatever he was about to say, needing to be somewhere that wasn't this room. 

The look on his face told her he understood why she wanted to relocate their little chat and he nodded his agreement. 

Smiling gratefully she led him out of the room across the hall into what had been dubbed their ‘office’.

“How are you holding up?” Bellamy asked as they settled together on the couch.

“Fine, I’m just anxious about how this whole thing with Anya, Lincoln and that boy is going to play out.”

“I think everyone’s more than a little worried about that.” Bellamy tells her humourlessly, “But I’m sure Raven has everything under control.”

“Oh, if there’s one person I don’t have to worry about doing their job its Raven. After a lifetime of bad things happening to her, she’s finally gotten her shit together.”

“I’ll trust your judgement on that one.”

“So why did you want to talk?” she asked, curious about his motives for coming to see her.

“Like I said, you’re good company Clarke, I like you.”

“Glad to hear it, though you’re not so bad yourself.” she tells him easily, settling more comfortably into the couch and angling her body in his direction.

~

“Why did you open fire on our sister?” Anya growled out, repeating the question again despite the boy’s obvious decision not to answer anything they asked him.

Raven leaned against an old cabinet and cleaned under her nails with the knife from her boot, zoning in and out of their questioning, more than content to let them have at it until it either yielded some useful information or they tried something that meant she had to step in.

“Raven is there anything in those cupboards?” Lincoln asked and Raven shot him a look.

“Not unless you were planning on doing some gardening.”

“As much as I would love to use him as fertiliser, gardening isn’t quite what I had in mind.” Lincoln informed her easily and she moved out of his way as he began rifling through drawers and cupboards.

He made an appreciative noise and pulled out a pair of hedge trimmers that made Raven ask herself ‘what would Clarke do?’. 

“You know the rules Lincoln.” she warned, eyeing both him and the hedge trimmers before glancing behind him at Anya. 

“We won’t do anything too bad,” Anya promised, eyes wide with fake sincerity, “we just want some answers.”

Raven slid the knife back into the sheath in her boot and narrowed her eyes at them for a moment, “If I see anything I don’t like then this all stops and I fetch Clarke, are we clear.”

“Crystal.” Anya replied with a smile that seemed to be her baring her teeth more than anything else.

Lincoln shot his sister a warning look before heading over to her and the boy bound to the chair, beginning what seemed like a nearly endless stream of questions.

Why did you shoot her? What were you doing there? Why did we find you outside the city and so close to our new camp? Are you following us? Do you want to hurt us, kill us? Why did you shoot our sister?

Eventually Raven told them that enough was enough, that he needed a rest, and shepherded them back inside to join the others where Clarke had them gathered in the living room with their dinner.

“How’d it go?” Clarke asked her as Raven settled in next to her, handing her a plate of food.

“Not so good, they didn’t get any answers out of him.” she sighed and ate a forkful of the refried beans they were having.

"Wasn't really expecting them to." Clarke told her with a sigh, "I don't think they're going to let it go anytime soon though."

"Not in the slightest."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me on my tumblr, [sweetheart-icanhandleawerewolf.](https://sweetheart-icanhandleawerewolf.tumblr.com)


	5. Part Five

"What have you done?" Clarke hissed as she entered the shed and Anya glanced over and met her eyes guiltily. 

"I just needed to know." She pleaded, dropping the knife by her feet and stepping back from the unconscious boy. 

“Roma, check that he’s alright.” Clarke tells the girl who’s hovering behind her and motions for Anya to move towards her. “I’ll send Monroe out to check him over. Anya, you need to come with me.”

“Of course.” Roma mutters, moving around Anya and feeling for the boys pulse while Clarke grips Anya’s upper arm and guides her into the house.

The others gape at the pair of them, although their gazes are mostly fixed on Anya and the blood she is covered in.

Lincoln and Octavia are sitting side by side on the couch in the living room, their heads ducked together and their voices low.

Lincoln glances up when they enter and when he sees the state his sister is in he moves to get up, but sits back down immediately at the look Clarke shoots him.

"Munroe go and help Roma." Clarke says and everyone falls silent as she leads Anya up the stairs and into the bathroom. 

The water and power had been off for months, but they had been bringing in water from a stream Anya and Lincoln had found about a twenty minute trek away in the woods and had been using that to wash up with. 

Clarke told Anya to get rid of the blood and left her in there with a fresh change of clothes, standing outside in the hallway and running her fingers through her hair. 

“What the hell?” Raven exclaimed as she came to a stop next to Clarke, shooting a glance at the bathroom door. “What happened out there?”

“I don’t know.” Clarke sighed, “I went out there and found her with a knife, and both of them were covered with blood. Roma and Monroe are checking him over now.”

“Damn, have you talked to her yet?”

“No, I was waiting for her to clean herself off first, she was covered in blood.” 

“I hope she got something.” Raven says and then continues at the look that Clarke shoots her, “At least then it wouldn’t have been for nothing.”

“What if she’s killed him?” Clarke asks her in a low voice, “What do we do with her then?”

“We hold a meeting, let everyone have a say. We can’t make all the big decisions on our own Clarke, it’s their lives too, they should have a say.”

“You’re right, and they will. I just really wish that we didn’t have to do this.”

“It’s hard being in charge, but who we are and who we need to be to survive are two very different people. After what she did we need to do something, the group needs to know that we can take care of them, even if the threat is one of our own."

"That doesn't mean I have to be okay with it."

More footsteps came up the stairs, Bellamy first and then Munroe.

"Is he...” 

"Alive." Munroe tells her and Clarke can't help but sigh in relief. "You're going to need to look him over though."

Clarke nods and then turns to Bellamy. "How can I help you?"

"Lincoln wants to know if his sister is alright."

"Tell him, quietly, that it's not her blood and then tell everyone that I will make an announcement in half an hour." 

"Let's get this over with." She tells Raven once they have disappeared back down the stairs. 

Clarke steps forwards and knocks on the door, "Anya, you've had enough time in there, you need to come out."

The door swings open and she steps nervously out in fresh clothes, her hair dark with water and her skin scrubbed clean. 

Raven gives her a once over, her mouth set in in a harsh line, "Let's talk."

They led her into the office and Raven shut the door firmly behind them. 

"What the fuck Anya," Clarke exclaimed, spinning to face her, "do you know how many problems you've just caused me." 

“I know, I’m sorry.”

That much was true, Clarke supposed, she definitely looked sorry enough about what she’d done.

“What were you thinking?” Clarke sighed, rubbing one hand over her face.

“I wasn’t, I just wanted to know what happened, why they shot my sister. I wasn’t thinking.” 

“I really wish you hadn’t done that.” she said, sinking into one of the armchairs. 

“Did you at least get anything out of him?” Raven asked from her spot by the door, slumping easily against the wall with her arms folded across her chest.

“Yeah,” she nodded tersely, “he told me the location of their camp, their leader is a guy named Tristan.” 

Raven unfolded the map across the desktop again and shoved Anya in its direction, “show us.”

“It’s here,” she pointed to a cluster of streets a few miles away from where they were currently set up. “They’ve connected a few of the yards and have claimed a few of the houses.”

Clarke grabbed the red marker and drew an asterisk over the street.

“You two are going to stay here and I’m going to go address the group, something is going to have to be done though, Anya.” 

“Understood.”

~

“The boy we had tied up in the garden shed was tortured by Anya against my orders in an attempt to gain information on Tris’s shooting. We are going to have a meeting to talk about what happened in a few minutes, and also to discuss what will happen to Anya.

This affects all of you so you will all get a say in the way this plays out. I am going to check up on the boy and then I will bring Anya down so we can get this started.”

The group glanced at one another for a minute, looking concerned although Clarke was unsure whether it was for the boy, for Anya or for themselves, for having to make one of the first big decisions for themselves since joining the group.

Roma and Monroe had moved the still unconscious boy into the small formal lounge that was off to one side, handcuffing him to the metal fireplace grating in case he woke up.

“He doesn’t seem too badly injured.” Monroe informed her as she entered the room, “I would prefer it if you gave him a once over though, being the medic and all.”

“That’s fine Monroe, good thinking.”

Roma and Bellamy were huddled in one corner regarding the boy, Murphy, with one eye and keeping an eye on the door with the other.

Clarke knelt beside him and pressed two fingers to his pulse point, bringing her wrist up so she can watch the hands of her father’s watch tick in slow circles.

“Don’t do anything stupid.” she tells him and the other occupants of the room cast her strange looks before jumping forwards when the boy jerks upwards his free arm coming up to claw at her face.

Clarke bats the arm away easily, pinning it to the ground by pressing her knee into his wrist and her palms into his chest.

“What did I say?” she hissed, frowning down at him, “you’ve reopened some of your cuts now.” she gestures Roma over and the girl replaces her, pinning the boy down slightly less gently that Clarke had been going about it.

Monroe had brought the bag full of their medical gear downstairs and it was now sitting at her feet.

“Monroe.” Clarke said, and the girl nudged it across the floor towards her with the toe of her boot.

As Clarke sifted through their meagre supplies the boy bucked and tried to throw Roma off, she bared her teeth at him and pressed her forearm against his throat, not hard enough to do any damage so long as he stayed still.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Clarke warned him as she pulled out a suture kit, “she was close with Tris, the girl you shot.” 

"I didn't shoot anyone." He hissed, craning his neck so he could glare at her. 

"Maybe not, but your friends did." Clarke made her way over to him and settled by his abdomen where he had reopened his wounds. "Hold still or I'll do more damage than good. 

The boy seemed to realize that holding still while Clarke stitched him up would be in his best interests. 

"Your people abducted me." He said, wincing as the needle bit into his skin. 

"They did that against my orders and I apologize for it, however I hope you understand that we can’t just let you go now.”

She tied off the stitches and Monroe stepped forwards to take the extra wire and needle from her. 

“Let him up.” Clarke said, jerking her head at Murphy. “Know that if you rip any more of your stitches open I will not be sewing you up again.”

Murphy pulled himself upright with a hiss, arm bent awkwardly behind him where it was handcuffed to the fireplace grate.

“Watch him closely, we’ll come and get him after Anya has spoken. Munroe, go and join the others.” Clarke commanded and Monroe disappeared from the room, while Bellamy and Roma nodded in her direction before settling on either side of the door as she left.

~

Clarke led the way down the stairs with Anya and then Raven following behind her. The lounge fell silent as they entered, stopping in front of the group who looked to Clarke for what was about to happen.

“Anya has disobeyed my orders and tortured the boy, Murphy, who she and Lincoln brought in. Normally I understand if you don’t follow the rules, I also understand that I am not in charge here, this is a democracy. However she has harmed someone and that is not okay here, you need to feel safe and know that you will be taken care of.

Today I will not be making this decision for you, Anya and then Murphy will explain what has happened and then it will be up to you to decide what we do next, as well as Anya’s punishment.”

Raven guided Anya to the front as Clarke stepped backwards, and the two stood shoulder to shoulder as she began to talk.

“Murphy, the boy that Lincoln and I found in the woods, was part of the group that shot Tris while we were still in the city. We brought him back here and Clarke told us to put him in the shed until she could deal with him. She sent Raven out to babysit us as we interrogated him to make sure we didn’t take things too far. He refused to talk so once everyone was asleep I snuck back out and tortured it out of him.

He told me his name, the name of their leader, the location of their camp, how many people were in the group, what they were packing. He told me everything he knew.

He left me no choice, if he had just told us what he knew I never would have had to do any of this.” 

“Go and fetch the boy.” Clarke told Raven quietly while the group whispered about what Anya had told them.

Clarke stepped forwards and they returned their attention to her, “Now that Anya has explained what has happened Raven will bring in Murphy and he will tell you everything that he told Anya, and then you will need to make a decision.”

Raven re-entered the room, followed by Bellamy and Roma who shoved the boy between them. They manipulated him until he was stood between them in front of the group.

“Tell them what you told her.” Raven commanded, “The sooner we decide on her punishment the sooner we can work out how to let you go.”

“My name is John Murphy and your people abducted me from a few miles outside of my camp. Its run by a man named Tristan who I assure you, you don’t want to cross. Why he shot your friend I couldn’t tell you, he’s uncharacteristically cruel; it was probably so he could see the look on your faces.”

“Why are you here, why did you leave the city?”

“For the same reason you did I assume, to get away from the herd that was coming through.”

“And you have no quarrel with our group?” 

“Not that I am aware of, no.” 

“Okay, take him back into the other room.” Raven told them and Roma and Bellamy escorted him out of the room again.

“You have fifteen minutes to work out what you’re going to do before I want two of you upstairs with a final decision.” Clarke said before taking a hold of Anya’s arm and leading her back towards the stairs.

~

“Have you come to a decision?” Clarke asked Miller and Harper.

The three of them stood in the upstairs hallway while Raven stayed in the office with Anya.

“Yes, we decided that Anya should stay, under probation on course.” Miller said, twisting at his beanie anxiously.

“Tell the others that their decision has been accepted and that I will deal with Murphy myself, and send Bellamy and the others up with the boy.”

The pair nodded gratefully and disappeared back down the stairs.

“They said that you can stay, but you’re under probation.” Clarke said as she re-entered the room, “Consider yourself lucky.”

“If it had been up to you, would you have let me stay?” Anya asked quietly.

“I’m not sure, but I knew that they’d let you stay. They aren’t hard enough to make the tough decisions when it counts.”

Lincoln was the first one through the door, moving to his sister’s side and wrapping an arm firmly around her shoulders.

Jasper and Monty followed him in and then came Bellamy and Roma, manhandling Murphy into the room. 

“We need to decide what to do with him.” Jasper said as they all settled into the room.

“We should let him go, but how do we know he won’t hightail it back to his camp and tell them everything. They could be on our doorstep by this time tomorrow.” Bellamy spoke up as he handcuffed Murphy to the desk.

“We need to leave, we release him as we go and we’re long gone by the time he gets back to his people.” Raven said from where she was leaning against the wall behind Clarke’s chair.

“Where are we going to go then?” Jasper asked, peering at their map.

“Get him out of here; he doesn’t need to know our plans.” Clarke jerked her head in Murphy’s direction.

As soon as Roma had escorted him from the room Monty spoke.

“The farms out in the countryside, we clear one out, fortify it and make a home for ourselves.”

“Between all of us we have the knowledge to do it.” Lincoln agreed.

“So it’s a plan.” Raven said, “We leave tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on tumblr at [theyoungestzerogmechanic](http://theyoungestzerogmechanic.tumblr.com) and say hi.


	6. Part Six

~

“Pull in here.” Clarke ordered, gesturing to the car park coming up on their right.

“On it.” Bellamy flicked on the turning signal and pulled into the car park, the others pulling in behind him.

“We’re going to clear these stores,” Clarke announced as everyone piled out of the cars, “Charlotte, Jasper, Monroe you’re going to stay here and guard the vehicles. The rest of you two groups of three and one group of four, anything happens you use the radio but only if it’s an emergency. Are we clear?”

Everyone voiced their approval and they moved towards the main doors of the small shopping complex.

“Try not to make too much noise.” Raven said as she pulled her machete from her belt. The others followed suit and drew their weapons before splitting into teams.

Clarke, Raven and Bellamy went left and headed to the far end of the complex, Bellamy in front with Clarke in the middle and Raven covering their backs.

They found the first few stores they checked devoid of both the undead and anything useful that they could use. Apparently someone else had had the same idea before them.

So what happened in the fifth store was entirely their fault, they had gotten sloppy, there had been no sight of any walkers, nothing from any of the other groups and so they weren’t paying as much attention as they probably should have been.

“Raven.” Bellamy bit out drawing both girls attention before they turned to face the threat. 

Raven swung almost automatically, bringing her right foot up as she brought her machete back to kick the first one away from her so she had more room to move.

As soon as she had registered the threat Clarke was moving, whirling her katana and striding to Raven’s side. The blade sliced through rotted flesh and Clarke could feel it passing through bone as it emerged out the other side, effectively decapitating the corpse that looked like she had once an employee at the store.

The noise attracted the rest of them out of the back room and Bellamy moved around the rack of clothing separating them to stand at their backs. The next few minutes was taken up with fighting and hacking at the walkers until they had decimated them.

“Well,” Clarke said, brushing a strand of hair back from her face which was now covered in a faint sheen of sweat. 

“Tell me about it.” Raven slid her machete back through her belt and bumped their shoulders together.

“C’mon, let’s move on to the next store.” Bellamy said as he headed for the door, peering out to check that the way was clear. 

They were headed across to the next store when a gunshot echoed through the building, causing the trio to freeze and exchange glances.

“Who just fired?” Clarke demanded into the walkie-talkie while Raven and Bellamy moved to stand on either side of her, facing in opposite directions and keeping a look out for anything that moved. 

“I did.” Roma’s voice crackled to life and then another gunshot went off.

“They’re everywhere!” Lincoln joined the conversation, “we need to get back to the cars.” 

“We need to move.” Clarke said and they began to make their way towards the exit, eyes darting around at the slightest sound. 

“Clarke? Thank god." Monty was sprinting towards them, followed closely by Harper, Miller and Roma. 

"Where are the others?" Clarke asked as unclipped the walkie-talkie from her belt. 

"We haven't seen them." Roma said as she skidded into Raven's side, gripping her arm and tugging at it. "C'mon, we have we have to go. We have to move, now!" 

"Lincoln, where are you guys?" 

"We'll find our own way out, you guys need to move." It was Anya who spoke this time, her voice sounding faint.

"Either way we have to go." Roma told her with a gesture towards the herd coming towards them.

It wasn't large by any standards, about thirty strong, but there were only seven of them and Clarke didn't like their odds. 

"Move it!" She bellowed, and they sprinted through the mall, darting into a store after Roma who locked the door behind them.

They all stood, breathing heavily, for a few moments before the banging on the door began along with the groans.

Clarke glanced around the room they had all piled into and her stomach dropped. The store was completely empty of anything other than the service desk that was secured to the floor. 

“Fuck!” Roma swore as she looked around the room she had led them into.

The others glanced around the room, spreading out and looking around for any way that they could escape. 

“Everything’s bolted down.” Miller said, pushing at the service desk, “There’s no way we’re moving this thing.”

Clarke glanced between the window and where she was standing and back again before taking a few steps backwards and reassessing the situation.

“I have a really stupid idea.” 

“What is it?” Bellamy said, turning to face her.

Clarke ignored him in favour of running at the window, angling her body sideways just before impact and curling into a ball, bringing her arms up to protect her head.

The glass shattered and she landed hard on the concrete, rolling a few times before coming to a rest on her back; dazed and staring up at the sky.

She jumped instinctively when she felt a hand on her arm before realizing it was Raven, and then Bellamy was hovering over her, offering her a hand.

She reached up and grasped it, letting him pull her to her feet. She brushed her palms against her jeans and reached back to feel for the hilt of her katana.

Raven pressed her fingertips against Clarke's cheek and when she pulled them away they were sticky with blood.

"Back to the cars." Bellamy ordered and the rest of the group climbed through the empty window frame to join them in the parking lot. Shards of glass crunching underfoot, reduced to powder by the heels of their boots.

Raven wrapped an arm around Clarke’s shoulders and led her towards the car, the others following behind them.

Everyone else was back at the cars, and as soon as they saw them they began piling in. Raven shoved Clarke into the back seat, sliding in beside her and firmly shutting the door. 

“What was that noise?” Lincoln asked from her other side and Octavia turned around from the passenger seat to peer back at them.

“That was Clarke throwing herself through the window.” Bellamy said as he got into the driver’s seat.

“Well it worked didn’t it?” she said, wincing as Raven poked at the gash on her arm.

Raven huffed out a breath and didn’t answer her while the others exchanged glances.

“It worked.” Bellamy conceded, “But there could have been another way, you took a risk that you didn’t necessarily need to take.”

Clarke scowled at the back of his head and turned to Raven as she dug the first aid kit from Clarke’s backpack and pulled out some antiseptic wipes.

Clarke hissed at the burn of the antiseptic as Raven cleaned the cuts and stuck plasters over them to try and prevent them from getting infected or from getting any sort of walker goo in them. 

The rest of the car ride passed in tense silence which only ended when they pulled into a deserted looking street to find a place to sleep for the night.

Clarke happily clambered out of the car behind Raven, taking Raven, Roma and Miller into the house with her while the others stayed outside with the cars.

“Only two inside.” Raven announced as they came back outside, heading for their car so she could grab her bag, “you’re good to go in.”

“The cars are around the back; only bring in the essentials, the rest stays where it is. We leave first thing tomorrow.” Clarke said, following Raven to the car and then back into the house.

Raven dumped her bag in a corner in the living room and then headed for the stairs, knowing that Clarke would follow her up. She could hear Lincoln behind her, telling the others to stay in the living room.

“You’re mad.” Clarke entered the room and perched on the edge of the desk, “I understand why.”

“Do you now. That window might not have broken, you could have been killed or at least been seriously injured Clarke. I need you Clarke, we all need you, and you’re not going to do anyone any good if you’re dead.”

“This group is my responsibility; it’s my job to keep them alive.”

“Even you can’t do that Clarke. Some of them aren’t going to make it. They are people and they are going to make their own decisions and at some point those decisions might cost them, but even you can’t stop that.” Raven said with a pitying look. “You can’t save everybody, Clarke.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t have to try.” Clarke said in a quiet voice, trembling as she remembered the first time someone had said that to her.

Raven moved over to sit on the desk beside her, resting a hand on her back against the curve of her spine. Clarke wilted against her side, resting her head against the girls shoulder. One of her hands reached up to twist dark strands of hair around her fingers.

“I am sorry I scared you guy’s though.” she admitted, “It obviously wasn’t my intention, although there’s no need to quote Finn at me.”

Raven laughed and slid off the desk, pressing a kiss to Clarke’s forehead as she headed for the door.

“I’ll be downstairs with the others.” she said as she rounded the corner and Clarke rested her forehead in her hands with a sigh.

~

“Is she always that reckless?” Bellamy asked with a frown as he joined Raven where she leant against the wall.

“Sometimes. She likes to think that she can save everybody, despite the fact that not everyone can be saved.”

“She seemed pretty level headed up until today.” he told her and when she looked over at him she could see he cared.

“That’s Clarke, she seems pretty reasonable and them something happens and suddenly she’s doing whatever it takes despite the cost.”

“You two seem pretty close. You know her long?”

“Oh, yeah.” Raven said with a grin, “two and a half, maybe three, years. We met after I found out she was screwing my boyfriend, turns out she didn’t know I existed. We ditched him and started hanging out, the others found it a little weird at the time but they got used to it eventually.”

“Uh huh.” Bellamy looked at her for a moment with pursed lips before nodding, “I could see that. Knowing you two the way you met had to be something like that.”

“What are you implying?” Raven asked him, mock frown on her face.

“Nothing,” he told her with an impish grin on his face, “just that you two have this weird, complicated, relationship and it figures that the story about how you met is equally as weird and complicated.”

“Complicated is probably the understatement of the century.” Raven told him, one eye on the stairs as she waited for Clarke to make her way down. “But we’re good together.”

~

Clarke managed to sleep through the entire night without anyone waking up or freaking out or needing her for something. It was Raven who finally woke her up when the sun was cresting the trees by tugging at her arm until, groaning, Clarke opened her eyes just enough to squint at her. 

Before the apocalypse had happened Clarke was hardly ever out of bed before noon and she had never been a morning person no matter how much sleep she had gotten.

“You’re the one who said we were leaving early.” Bellamy reminded her as he offered her his hand, hauling Clarke and then Raven to their feet.

“I forgot I don’t actually like mornings.” she grumbled, stifling a yawn and moving to wake the others up so they could get going. This morning’s breakfast was going to be muesli bars while they drove; they were running low on food and gas and they needed a place to set up camp before they could properly do anything about it.

Clarke stood on the front porch and watched as everyone got their gear together and repacked the cars.

“You ready to go?” Bellamy asked, stopping next to her on his way over to Octavia.

“Yeah, I just needed a moment to collect myself.” She told him, reaching down to grab her backpack and katana. “I’ll meet you by the car.”

He smiled down at her and then jogged down the stairs and over to Octavia who looked like she was in the middle of an animated conversation with Monty and Miller if the animated hand gestures were anything to go by.

Clarke made a final sweep of the house to check that they hadn’t missed anything before heading out to the jeep. She climbed into the back seat with Raven who scooted over so that Clarke could have the middle seat.

“Thanks, Reyes.” Clarke said, bumping their shoulders together and Raven nudged her back.

“What’s our plan?” Monroe asked as she hoisted herself into the passenger’s seat.

Charlotte clambered into the back next to Clarke and Bellamy handed her a backpack before he headed around to sit in the driver’s seat.

“Head west from here and we can keep an eye out for anywhere that looks even semi suitable for us to set up base.” 

“And if there isn’t anywhere?” Monroe asked as she spread the map across her knee.

“We double back and head south or north or somewhere until we find somewhere safe.”

“Got it.” Bellamy started up the car and pulled out onto the road while the others settled in for another long car ride. 

~

“There!” Charlotte exclaimed, jamming her finger against the window as they passed what once must have been a fancy looking private school to their right.

“Pull over, this could be what we’ve been looking for.” Clarke leaned between Bellamy and Monroe’s seats, gesturing at the school.

“We’re pulling over.” Raven spoke into the walkie-talkie and there was a moment of silence before it crackled back to life.

“Copy that, pulling over.” 

Bellamy steered the car onto the grassy curb and they climbed out, meeting the others in front of the wrought iron gates.

“We’re checking this place out, it looks secure and this may be as good as it gets.” Clarke announced as everybody gathered round. “We’re going to open the gates and pull the cars in so they’re off the road and out of sight but still easily accessible for a quick escape if things go bad. Then we’re going to split into two groups, one will stay with the cars and one will clear the school. We do this quickly, silently and as painlessly as possible.”

“Charlotte, Octavia, Harper and Monty, I want you to stay with the vehicles. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious and radio in if you see anything, be ready to drive if we need to get out quickly and if we’re not back and you can’t wait anymore I want you to leave us.” Clarke raised her hand at their protests and cut them off. “We’re armed and we have the radios. If anything happens we meet at the fork in the road we passed about five miles ago. You wait three days, if you don’t hear anything by then you need leave us behind. We’re probably dead.

“The rest of you, we’re staying together and we’re staying in formation. If we get overwhelmed that’s our best shot at getting out alive. We move together, we do this quietly. No guns unless you have no other option. Let’s go.”

Everyone grabbed their weapons from the cars and headed across the lawn towards the side door. There weren’t any walkers out front and Clarke figured that meant the wall must have been doing its job. The giant entrance doors appeared to be sealed shut too.

“On three, I open this door and we head in. Everyone sticks together.” Raven ordered, hand on the doorknob. “Three. Two. One.”

~

They trudged through the corridors, foreheads damp with sweat and their weapons held by their sides in white knuckle grips. One by one they searched the abandoned classrooms, flinging open doors as they made their way through the school.

“It’s too quiet in here.” Roma said, peering over her shoulder at Clarke. “I don’t like it; we should have run into either walkers or people by now.”

“It’s weird.” Miller agreed, adjusting his grip of his crowbar.

“Radio the others and check if they’ve seen anything.” Clarke ordered and Monroe unclipped the walkie-talkie from her belt.

“Monty, you there?” The radio crackled with static for a moment before it emitted a short beep and they could hear his voice.

“We’re here, nothing to report.”

“Okay, thanks Monty.” she put the walkie back and they exchanged a look.

Clarke opened her mouth but before she could speak they heard a banging from one of the unchecked classrooms ahead.

“What the fuck is that?” Raven hissed, edging forwards so that she was closer to the door.

“Let’s find out.” Bellamy said, pacing forwards until he was gripping the door knob, “Go!”

He flung the door open and Roma and Jasper were the first through the doorway, scanning the room while the others filed in behind them, Miller and Bellamy waiting at the door and keeping an eye on the hallway.

“Are you serious?” Roma muttered, reaching down and dragging someone out from under the desk, an alive someone who yelped at the vice like grip the girl had on them. “There’s another one down there.” she told Clarke, depositing the first on the floor in front of her.

The boy eyed them nervously, his eyes lingering on Raven who scowled at him from Clarke’s side and adjusted her grip on her machete threateningly.

“Okay, okay. I’m coming out.” A girl’s voice rung out and she unfolded herself from underneath the desk and moved to join her partner in the middle of the room.

“I’m Fox, this is Sterling.” she jerked her thumb in the boys direction. “We used to go to school here back when it was a school. You know, before one of the teachers tried to eat us.”

“Where is everyone else?” Anya asked from the corner, “the teachers and other students.”

Fox fiddled nervously with the hem of her jumper before tugging it back into place and meeting Anya and then Clarke’s gaze.

“Principal Wilson locked all the staff and students in the gym together after this teacher went nuts while they waited for the police to arrive. However when your history teacher tries to take a chunk out of you you tend not to stick around.”

“Yeah,” Sterling piped in, voice wavering. “We hid in the janitor's closet and by the time we came out to look for everyone he’d already sealed the doors and he wasn’t opening them for anything less than a small army of police men. Except I guess someone was infected or something, because that’s when the screaming started.”

“We figure the teacher bit someone and they were in there when he locked the doors, everyone in there is dead. There were a few students wandering around at first, some of them dead and some of them not, but it’s just us now.” Fox finished the story, hugging her arms around herself.

“Where’s this gym?” Bellamy said from the doorframe.

“Why?” Fox narrowed her eyes at him, “you're not planning on letting them out are you?”

“Oh god.” Sterling whispered when he saw the looks on their faces, “you’re crazy, they’ll kill you.”

“Just take us to the gym and then you can go and leave the rest to us, or stay and join our group.” Clarke told them.

The pair exchanged a look and appeared to come to some sort of decision.

“Fine, the gym’s this way.” Fox headed into the corridor and waited for them to follow.

Clarke grabbed the walkie off Monroe’s belt, radioing the others and cluing them in on their plan.

“They’re all trapped in the gym out behind the main building; we’re going to do some recon and see if we can come up with a better plan than just letting them loose and hoping for the best.”

“Got it, we’ll be waiting.”

~

Clarke and the others stood out of the grass and surveyed the gym from a distance.

“If we get them out of the gym and onto the basketball courts we’d have a better chance.” Raven spoke up next to her, “pick them off at the fence line.” 

“Could work,” Miller agreed, “we open the single door to funnel them out, like cattle into a pen and get them through the chain-link fence.”

“Snipers in one of these back rooms picking them off.” Jasper gestured to the windows behind them that were facing out towards the gym.

“Sounds like a plan.” Clarke said, slinging the rifle off her shoulder and peering at the door through the sights. “Someone will need to shoot the lock out on that door, run for the gate in the fence and place one of our padlocks on it”

“Me.” Clarke turned to see Fox step forwards, “I was a sprinter, a damn good one if I do say so myself, and there’s no way I can shoot as well as you guys or kill them anywhere nearly effectively enough with one of those.” she nodded towards their weapons. “If I don’t make it someone else will be by the gate with another padlock. I’m expendable.”

“Okay, you can do it. Not because you’re expendable, but because you’re best suited for the job and everyone has a role to play.” Clarke told her seriously.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Raven, radio Monty. Tell them to swing the cars around and to meet us back here so we can go over the plan.”

~

“Roma, have you guys got a clear line of sight?” Clarke radioed the girl, peering up at the window where she could see the muzzles of their guns poking through the open windows

“As good as we’re going to get.” Roma said, scoping out the courts and the door to the gym while Harper fiddled with her rifle before giving her a thumbs up. “We’re ready to go when you are.”

“Fantastic.” she clicked the walkie off and gestured the others in. “Everybody knows their job?” There was a murmur of agreements as everyone readied their weapons. “Good, get into your positions and remember to be careful until Fox is out of the gate, we don’t need any accidents today. Monroe, be prepared to step in should things turn bad.”

Every mumbled their agreement and headed towards their positions, guns tucked into their waistbands and knives in their hands. Clarke checked that Charlotte was safely between Anya and Lincoln before she motioned Fox forwards.

She aimed to pistol at the door and fired at the lock until the door began to slide open, aided by the walkers throwing themselves against it.

“Go!” Raven shouted and Fox turned and sprinted for the gate pushing off her back leg and taking long strides as walkers trailed behind her, forcing themselves through the door and after her.

She skidded through the door frame, grabbing the gate as she passed and pulling it shut behind her so Monroe could click the padlock in place. Meanwhile the others had opened fire on the first walkers through the doorway and were now picking off the ones who tried to grab them through the wire fence. 

Roma and Harper were taking shots from the building behind them and making most of them, if the rate that walkers were crumbling to the floor as unseen projectiles made its way through their skulls was any indication.

Clarke moved repetitively, jabbing her katana through the links of the fence and killing anything that approached her.

The others doing the same thing with their own weapons, spread along the fence line racking up a body count.

It took them nearly an hour to clear out the basketball courts but the fence had held. They backed away from the fence line, pushing sweaty hair back from their eyes and dabbing at their foreheads with the back of their t-shirts.

“Let’s never do this again.” Monty declared, staggering towards the others where they were grouping in the shade provided by a cluster of large trees.

Bellamy glanced at the sky and then at his watch before turning to the others.

“We should set up temporarily in one of the classrooms before it gets too late. Tomorrow we can clear out the courts and burn the bodies, go through the school again and set up properly.”

“It’s a good plan.” Lincoln agreed, twirling his knife between his fingers. “Let’s go set up then, we’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”

They headed back into the school and up to the classroom where they had left Harper and Roma. 

“We’re staying in here tonight.” Miller announced as they entered the room, grabbing his backpack from their pile of gear and claiming a corner.

“Everything went okay?” Roma asked as she put away the rifle.

“Yeah, we’ll clean up the mess tomorrow but tonight we’re going to crash in here.” Clarke grabbed their gear and Raven, Bellamy and Lincoln followed her down the back of the room to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a while but i've finally gotten over my writers block and finished this part in time for christmas! anyway, hoped you enjoyed this and have a merry christmas guys.


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